Karijini (2013)

Fifteen years ago I made it to within 1,000km of Karijini National Park in Western Australia’s Pilbara region but the extra distance was just too much at the time. In July 2013 the opportunity arose for a small group trip of two weeks duration to the region, camping in the park/nearby and sharing 4WD hire costs. The intention was seeing the sights and photography, the park’s famed gorges being the main attraction. The park is well represented in overly colourful picture books etc. I decided instead to shoot with a 6×12 pinhole camera in B&W.

A pinhole camera is very easy to use, the only decisions being where to point the camera (a wooden box with a tiny hole as fixed aperture) and the exposure time. This simplified approach, while somewhat haphazard, does however allow one to concentrate more on the subject and lighting: the quintessence of a photograph. The resultant images have infinite depth of field but an overall softness and distortions at the periphery which are intrinsic to the pinhole medium and only add to their charm, I feel. These are surprisingly minor shortcomings given the primitiveness of the means.

An exhibition of twelve images from this work is on display at the Huw Davies Gallery, Manuka Arts Centre in Canberra until 2nd February 2014. Click here for the catalogue.